Michael J Fox/ Pawn in the Stem Cell Research Debate

Kevin Roeten

It seems that the mainstream media has made certain to ‘rush’ in and condemn and demonize anyone who criticizes Michael J. Fox’s recent debut on Embryonic Stem Cell Research(ESCR)---pun intended. Their latest victim—Rush Limbaugh. But why condemn anyone who ‘tells it like it is’?
Rush seems to be a made-to-order target. Michael J. Fox is a believable victim. A combination that couldn’t be any sweeter for most media sources.

First, some facts absolutely need to be said. Fox has Parkinson’s disease, but claims to be only a non-profit advocate. But the Democrats are in control of everything about the commercials Fox makes. Fox now has heavy involvement in political races this election cycle. He has cut political commercials for Rep. Cardin(Senate[D] in Maryland), for senate candidate[D] Claire McCaskill(Missouri), and Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle[D]. Twenty or more years ago Fox was excellent in series like “Family Ties”, and the three “Back to the Future” movies. But it seems like the ravages of Parkinson’s may actually affect more than we think. Is it possible that correct cognitive skills are somewhat altered?

In his ‘McCaskill’ ads, Fox advises to sink tens of millions of dollars into the so-called Amendment 2(Missouri). On November 7, Missouri voters will decide if the state will give constitutional protection to the cloning of human beings for research purposes. In the spot, Fox is shaking almost uncontrollably, which gives even more power to his words. It may be worth mentioning that Fox is not above manipulating his audience. If you look on page 247 of his book “Lucky Man”, when Fox made an appearance before the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on 9/28/99 he said, “I had made a deliberate choice to appear before the subcommittee without medication.” This he confirmed in a subsequent interview with Diane Sawyer.

The week of 10/23/06 when Fox made a commercial about funding ESCR, Limbaugh made the astute observation that “Fox is either off his meds, or acting.” Limbaugh had seen Fox numerous times on many different occasions, and he was never shaking as bad as he did on this specific commercial. But more importantly, Limbaugh never made fun or criticized Fox. Limbaugh even apologized later in that broadcast if he was wrong about Fox actually ‘acting’. But because of conceived ‘mileage’ acquired by the victimization of Fox, the networks had a field day.

They said Limbaugh used the word ‘faking’, but never did. He only said Fox had exaggerated actions, or seemed off his meds, and that this did not seem normal to him. Further investigation with medical personnel revealed that exaggerated actions by Fox could be a direct result of too much medication. But Limbaugh noticed a few other things: that Fox said that Republicans opposed stem cell research, or any work to cure diseases. Not true. Republicans have actually voted to establish or increase funding for stem cell research—that is ‘adult’—not ‘embryonic’. A major difference.

In actuality, ESCR has no track record of ever being successful. ASCR(Adult Stem Cell Research) has resulted in treating over 72 different diseases so far. The University of Rochester Medical Center and Harvard have come forward with studies confirming the adverse effects of embryonic stem cell use resulting in tumors. Not exactly the ‘promising’ effect we’ve been hearing about ESCR. Remember when John Edwards(John Kerry’s running mate) declared that this kind of work will result in people like Christopher Reeve being able to walk again?

Everything actually revolves around federal funding for ESCR. Even though ESCR was not made illegal with Bush’s veto, he did call a halt to any federal funding. I thought we were worried about the annual deficit? But some of the public actually wants more spent out of the federal ‘coffers’ for something that has been proven unworkable?

But most importantly, ESCR and cloning will result in destruction of fertilized embryos, very likely with souls. But let’s really try to understand this. Some of the public want to increase the debt with funding for something that likely kills innocent life, doesn’t work, causes tumors, and will not be funded by private enterprise in the first place? Where are these people’s heads?

Probably in winning the next election.

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As a Chemical Engineer, I love politics, and am an orthodox Catholic. I am a "Guest Columnist"('Asheville Citizen-Times'), a regular columnist(North Carolina Conservative), and a contributor to the book "Americans on Politics, Policy, and Pop Culture". Politics are usually covered with a skew from a Catholic perspective.

roetenks@charter.net